1998 Use Statistics for Virginia Fruit Page


The Virginia Fruit Home Page received 6175 visits from January through December 1998, based on numbers acquired from the Department of Entomology server for actual requests (not in-page counters). This represents an approximate doubling of use from 1997. Altogether there were 95,115 visits to pages within this web site. Use of the web site peaked in May, and later reached a second peak in October and November. This may reflect a shift from the growing season. Of the fruit crops represented in the Virginia Fruit Page, the Apple Page received the most use (3030 visits), followed by the Grape site ((1731 visits) and Peach Page (1531 visits), Small Fruit (1029 visits) and finally Pear Pages (875 visits).

Within the Apple Page, biological information on pests, predators and bees received much interest. The Apple IPM page received 1971 visits, Direct Pests 664 visits, Indirect Pests 342 visits, and Orchard Predators 295 visits. This provides a complement to the West Virginia page, which has an emphasis on disease management.

The site is used by both commercial and home fruit producers, reflected by use statistics for pages based on Virginia Tech pest management recommendations. There were 6,046 visits to pages associated with the Spray Bulletin for Commercial Tree Fruit Growers (37% Apple, 28% Stone Fruit, 13% Cherry, 12% Pear, 10% Plum), 1,975 visits to pages associated with the Spray Guide for Commercial Vineyards, 1,535 visits to pages associated with the Spray Guide for Commercial Small Fruit (47% Strawberry, 32% Caneberry, 21% Blueberry), and 5,667 visits to pages associated with the Spray Guide for Home Fruit (32% Apple and Pear, 19% Grape, 17% Stone Fruit, 13% Blueberry, 10% Caneberry, 9% Strawberry).

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